The Prosecution's Case, Week 2 Recap - Ghislaine Maxwell Trial

“The defense’s case begins Thursday.”

Last week the prosecution rested their case. It was much earlier than anybody expected. Part of that was to do with government witnesses being shaved off for a couple of reasons.

There was Brian, Jane’s brother, who was disqualified because he had talked with her sister who’d testified the week before. Read about that here:

Marlon Ettinger @MarlonEttinger

First 15 minute break of day 7. Before proceedings started, the judge heard from the defense that Jane, who testified on Tuesday and Wednesday, had talked with her brother, Brian, who is supposed to testify today.

And there was “Employee-1,” who was called to corroborate gx52, the notorious “Little Black Book” which contains the contact information for the rich and powerful people in the upper-class milieu Epstein and Maxwell inhabited.

Why the government didn’t call him wasn’t exactly clear, but a fight between the prosecution and defense limited the scope of what could be admitted into evidence. On Friday morning both sides came to the decision that a limited amount of pages would be entered into evidence under seal. Read about that here:

The Black Book - Ghislaine Maxwell Trial Day 10

On Monday there were revelations about evidence the government seized from Epstein’s Upper East Side mansion when they searched it in July 2019.

Kelly Maguire, an FBI Special Agent who collected evidence, testified that a safe found in a closet on the 3rd floor was not able to be seized under the scope of the first warrant the government had. That safe was filled with binders full of CDs, diamonds, large amounts of cash, and foreign passports. When the government came back with an expanded warrant, the contents of the safe were gone. Read about that here:

The Hard Drives Vanish - Ghislaine Maxwell Trial Day 6

On Wednesday, Epstein’s longtime pilot David Rodgers testified about a personal log he kept of his flights. The original passenger manifests for Epstein’s private planes vanished years ago when Rodgers handed them over to one of his boss’ attorneys.

But Rodgers’ personal log included lists of passengers, as well as flights from Canada to Paris, to Spain, to Morocco, to England and back. His testimony helped corroborate testimony from Jane, who was on the stand last week, that she flew at least 4 times with Epstein and Maxwell on their private planes. Read more about that here:

Jane and the Second Pilot - Ghislaine Maxwell Trial Day 8

And read about the logs’ possible connection to Jean-Luc Brunel. Brunel, a modeling agent currently in prison outside of Paris, has been accused of procuring, and abusing himself, underage girls for Epstein. Read more about that here:

Paris to Tangiers, the Modeling Scout - Ghislaine Maxwell Trial Day 9

There was strong witness testimony too, including by Carolyn, who dropped out of school in 7th Grade and testified about meeting Maxwell and Epstein when she was just 13. Read about that here:

Marlon Ettinger @MarlonEttinger

After hours of grueling cross examination, Carolyn sobbed as Maurene Coney asked her when she first saw Ghislaine Maxwell. "I was 13," she said. Comey asked when she first saw Jeffrey Epstein. "I was 13." "Money will not ever fix what that woman did to me," Carolyn said.

And here:

Marlon Ettinger @MarlonEttinger

Emotional testimony before lunch from Carolyn, who testified that she dropped out of school in 7th grade then was abused by Epstein and Maxwell from the age of 14 to 16.

On Friday, to close out the government’s case, there was Annie Farmer, whose testimony was backed by journal entries written not long after she says she was molested by Epstein and Maxwell. The defense floundered again Farmer, whose story hadn’t changed since those first journal entries back in January, 1997. Read about that here:

The Journal - Maxwell Trial Day 10

The defense’s case begins Thursday. They plan to call 35 witnesses, many of whom want to testify anonymously. I’ll be there.

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